Posted By Jim Armstrong On February 22, 2010 @ 1:31 pm In General Rockies,Spring Training | No Comments

Tucson — OK, so you’ve been shoveling to your heart’s content in the past week and you really don’t want to hear how, quote, unquote cold it’s been in Arizona.

Well you’re going to hear about it anyway, pal.

The temperature barely hit 50 on Monday for the third consecutive day. It’s raining as I type this. Tomorrow figures to be more of the same.

I only mention it for two reasons. First, everyone in camp is blaming me for the lousy weather. Seems it was mid-70s and sunny for most of last week, and turned to 50s and rainy when I rolled in on Friday.

And you thought I was one big ray of sunshine.

The players can’t wait for the heat to arrive, but many are just glad to be in the desert and not stuck inside, away from the cold. Case in point: Taylor Buchholz. He lives in suburban Philly, which, like the rest of the East Coast, had been pounded with record snowfalls in the weeks before he headed for Tucson.

“When I left, the snow was up to here,” said Buchholz, pointing to his left shin.

Buchholz, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, shoveled his way out of the first major dump. But when the snow kept coming, he farmed out the job. Such is life for major-league players.

“Here I am coming off surgery,” said Buchholz. “The last thing I wanted to do was tweak my back. You’ve got to be extra careful about stuff like that.”

Buchholz doesn’t have to worry about shoveling snow in Tucson. Now if he could just do something about the darn rain …